Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
King of Pentacles
Chayah in Assiah
- Suit
- pentacles
- Rank
- King
- World
- Assiah
- Soul level
- Chayah
- Position
- Down 3
Chayah, living essence
Chayah is life at its root, the Chokmah level. Kings are home in Atziluth and work down in the other three worlds.
Upright
Flowing. Essence fully incarnate: provision that makes the material world flourish, dominion as stewardship. The King works three worlds down, as far as a soul level can go, and what he does there is look after it.
Misdirected. Dominion as ownership, forgetting the Giver.
Reversed
Blocked. Dominion unexercised, the material world left unstewarded.
Flooded. Dominion without limit, acquiring and controlling beyond need.
The image
A king sits on a throne carved with bulls, in a robe embroidered with grapes and vines, holding a coin on his knee and a sceptre in his other hand. A castle stands behind him and flowers grow around his feet.
Learn how to read King of Pentacles in a spread
This page shows you what King of Pentacles means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
